At some point in the last couple weeks, Slide To Play turned a corner.

You know how I know? It’s not our traffic, although it’s been growing rather explosively since January. It’s not the fact that all of our advertising slots filled up in the space of about ten days. Nor is the fact that Apple has been featuring our podcast alongside some much, much bigger names.

The real tipoff is that people are starting to get pissed off at our reviews.

This may not sound so great on the face of things’”nobody likes being called ‘a joke of a site’ or ‘complete n00bs and idiots’–but in fact, I view it as a tremendously positive development. Most obviously, it means that our exposure is growing to the point that readers that disagree with our reviews actually feel compelled to respond. If nobody cares about our opinion enough to bother contradicting us publicly (and vehemently!), it means one of two things: either nobody’s reading our reviews… or they’re telling everyone exactly what they want to hear, meaning they provide no new information and are effectively worthless. In either case, we’re not helping anybody; we’ve failed.

To expand on that second point, we have a job to do here, and it’s not to be liked, or even to be popular’”it’s to be absolutely, unfailingly honest. We strive for objectivity in all of our reviews, starting with the facts. If we should screw those up (it happens to the best of us), we’re going to admit our mistakes and correct them. But facts and details can be spun any which way one chooses, so at the end of the day, we’re providing an opinion. If we attempt to soft-pedal or temper it, or somehow equivocate and split the difference, we’re doing our readers a disservice. In part, that is why we use a four-bin scoring system’”I’ve always found three-star reviews to be something of a cop-out. Is that a recommendation or not? You may not agree with our 2/3 split on a particular game, but you will sure as hell know where we stand.

And so, if you don’t agree with one of our reviews, or notice that we’ve missed something important, please do use that comment form, or post in our Forums! STP is a community, as well as a venue for our journalism, and we put those tools there for a reason. We value your (courteous) dissent and open debate, and your fellow readers will too.

148Apps takes a look at the recently released $2.99 racer Impulse GP and generally likes it. Praise for the controls, both in their accuracy and in the variety of options. The main downside is the silly AI, which seems over simplistic.

FarmersOnly.com has nothing on this game. With this update you can farm with a friend on local multiplayer. If farming simulators are your thing, and I can see a certain draw, give this a shot when it comes out on August 6th.

Kingdom Clicker, the latest in the auto RPG / clicker-typer genre was released last week. This one comes with a twist — PvP battles.

In Kingdom Clicker the usual clicking is done to gather coins, which are used to buy buildings and power-ups that auto-generate coins. It’s a well worn mechanic and implemented very well here. The graphics are good, the game plays well. But the interesting new thing here is that once a certain size kingdom is built, players can battle other players to attempt to steal part of their bank.

I’ve been playing this for a few days and find myself drawn back to it a few times per day. My only concern with this game is that same for many, I wish the battle were more intuitive — they are basically just a dice roll. That said, it’s a fun game, well done, and worth a try.

The original Mos Speedrun was one of those nearly perfect games that absolutely nailed exactly what it was going for: creating a super tight platformer that was designed for speedruns. The sequel is coming soon, and this new trailer shows what to expect.